But What About Quality? Refocusing EHR Implementation Efforts on The Real Reason at Spectrum

Julie Bonewell, BSN, MBA, CPHQ, Director Quality Improvement, Spectrum Health, and Angela R. Tiberio, MD, Physician Executive, Impact Advisors. The concept of Health Care Information Technology (HCIT) as a foundation for higher quality and safer care has been a focus for more than 40 years in the US. The Institute of Medicine report in 2001 – Crossing the Quality Chasm – and subsequent federal actions have led to an unprecedented pace of Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementations. However, the promise of truly better care has been disappointingly elusive for many institutions who spent significant resources (financial and human) on their implementations. The bottom line: it’s not about the technology!! Spectrum Health undertook a massive transformational endeavor (aka “Nexus”) and proactively identified their “Top 40 Safety/Quality Imperatives” for which they wanted their EHR implementation to either maintain an already excellent record or improve on the current state. Learn how Spectrum leveraged their substantial internal expertise (clinical, quality and technical) to influence their EHR build to achieve goals that many places have been unable to accomplish.